WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — The White House has asked the US Congress to provide additional $24.9 billion to finance immediate warfighting readiness needs, according to an appropriations request for fiscal year 2017 released on Thursday.
"An additional $24.9 billion is included to address immediate warfighting readiness needs at DOD [the Department of Defense]," the request stated.
The request for additional appropriations includes $8.3 billion funding increase for the US Army and $9.5 billion for the Navy. In addition, the Marine Corps would get $1.1 billion, while the Air Force’s bump would amount to $7.4 billion.
In particular, the White House has asked the US Congress to provide additional $1.4 billion to finance the campaign against Daesh.
"$1.4 billion to support urgent operational needs associated with the acceleration of Operation Inherent Resolve, DOD's [Department of Defense] campaign to defeat ISIS [Daesh]," the request stated.
The White House explained that the funds would be spent on force protection, precision-guided munitions, intelligence collection, targeting and surveillance, defensive weapons systems, and countermeasures against the drone program of Daesh.
In addition, the administration wants to allocate $2 billion for a "flexible fund" to support the new strategy against Daesh terrorists.
Moreover, the White House asked for $626 million for counter-Daesh-related train and equip efforts, according to the request.
"The request increases funding for assistance to partners in Iraq and Syria, while also providing the authority for DOD to work with forces fighting ISIS in areas outside Iraq and Syria," the document said.
